A faint voice called out to me from the depths of the darkness.
At first, the words were a murmur, distant and elusive. Then, a figure emerged—a girl. The same girl I’d seen before in this recurring dream. She stood before me, her face serious, her presence both familiar and unnerving.
Her lips moved, her voice finally breaking through the haze.
“You need to protect ______.”
Her words echoed, heavy with meaning I couldn’t yet grasp. I opened my mouth to ask, to plead for an explanation, but the dream dissolved before I could say anything. The girl faded into the void, and I was left grasping at the edges of consciousness.
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My eyes flew open.
A breath caught in my throat as the remnants of the dream clung to me, fading too slowly for comfort. The words—the voice of the girl—lingered in my mind, still echoing in the silence. Protect who? And from what? I could almost hear her voice again, but it was fading, becoming distorted as if swallowed by the weight of reality.
I sat up abruptly, disoriented, my chest tight and my heart racing. The room around me was still dim, the faint glow from outside lanterns casting soft shadows across the space. I blinked several times, my senses still tangled in the dream’s grasp. The cool air brushed against my skin, sharp against my feverish thoughts.
It was just a dream, I told myself, but my breath still trembled. I could feel the lingering pull of it, the girl’s gaze fixed on me as if she had left a message I couldn’t yet understand.
The cold morning air nipped at my skin as I clutched the thin blanket tighter around me, trying to anchor myself in this world. The disquiet in my chest refused to fade, the feeling that something important had been left unfinished.
I glanced around the room, the shadows of the bunk beds blurring into one another in the dim light. My eyes caught Saya on the top bunk—still asleep, her soft breathing a grounding presence.
She’s endured so much already—she’s already been in foster care and now this. The thought settled like a weight on my chest. This time, things will be different. I’ll make sure of it.
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Quietly, I slipped out of bed, careful not to wake Saya. My bare feet made no sound against the cool wooden floor as I crept out of the room. The orphanage hallways were narrow, the walls lined with faded paintings and old sconces that flickered faintly.
The air was tinged with the faint smell of yesterday’s cooking. Following the scent, I found my way to the kitchen.
A soft, warm glow spilled through the cracks of the door, accompanied by the gentle clatter of pots and pans. I took a deep breath and knocked lightly.
“Excuse me,” I said as I eased the door open.
Inside, a woman with braided brown hair was bustling about, stirring a pot on the stove. She turned to me, startled but smiling.
“Oh my, so early in the morning? You must be one of the new kids. Gain, right? I’m Sister Anna,” she greeted warmly.
“Yes, that’s me,” I replied, offering a small bow.
“What brings you here at this hour?” she asked, her curiosity evident.
“I… I came to apologize for what happened yesterday,” I said, shifting my weight awkwardly.
She blinked, then her face softened into a gentle smile. “Oh, is that all? You don’t need to apologize. It’s our job as adults to handle these things. But…” Her smile turned wistful. “If you could, I’d like you to forgive Greg. I can't really say much since you're new, but Greg is a nice kid. He’s been struggling ever since his older brother didn’t return a year ago.”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The memory of Greg’s sneering face and his reckless use of magic flashed in my mind. The anger was still there, but hearing her words made it flicker and fade. Maybe… maybe there was more to him than I realized.
“I understand,” I said, my voice quiet. “I’ll try to befriend him.”
Her expression brightened. “That’s good to hear.”
There was a brief pause, and she tilted her head. “But couldn’t this have waited until later?”
I hesitated before replying. “Well… I was actually hoping to help you cook,” I admitted, feeling a little embarrassed.
Her eyes widened slightly, but then a warm laugh escaped her lips.
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Breakfast was different that day.
The usual subdued murmur of children eating quietly was replaced by lively chatter and the occasional burst of laughter. Even the adults noticed the change.
At the staff table, Sister May took a bite of her food and paused. “Anna, did you change something? The food tastes much better today.”
Sister Anna smiled knowingly. “I had some help this morning.”
“Oh? From whom?” Sister May asked, intrigued.
“From the new kid,” Sister Anna replied.
“Oh, the girl named Saya, I didn’t expect her to be good at cooking,” Sister May said.
“Oh no, but rather Gain,” Sister Anna corrected.
Sister May blinked, visibly surprised. “The boy? You’re saying he cooked this? Ehhh?”
Anna nodded, her tone proud. “He has quite the talent.”
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Saya and I sat together at one of the long tables, the din of other children filling the air around us.
“This is surprisingly good,” Saya said, glancing at me with a mix of suspicion and amusement. “Wait… you didn’t. Did you?”
I smirked. “What can I say? I couldn’t stand the bland food anymore.”
Saya chuckled, shaking her head. “You’ve only been here a day, and you’re already changing things.”
I didn’t really do much back then, not that I needed to. Most of the ingredients I needed were already available here. The only difference between the present world I now found myself in and the one I used to live in was the method of cooking. In my old life, everything was done with basic tools, fire, and time. But here, there was something strange about how the food was prepared.
I remembered a conversation I’d had with an old coworker. He’d once said that the poor in the medieval era typically lived on a thick stew made from vegetables, grains, and sometimes, if they were lucky, meat. A simple dish that sustained them through the hardest of times. That stew was a staple for peasants—a humble dish, but one that filled the belly when times were hard.
Yesterday, when my sister got scolded, I remember accidentally finding some herbs on the side of a tree. They were wild rosemary, thyme, and a few sprigs of sage. In the end, I ended up using them in the dishes I cooked. They added a subtle yet rich flavor.
That said, I couldn’t shake off a strange feeling. Even though this world is supposed to be set in a medieval era, there are certain things here that just don’t add up. Take the stove I used this morning, for example. I had expected it to be one of those old-fashioned wood-burning stoves, the kind you see in books and old movies, where you have to chop wood and stoke the fire constantly. But instead, the stove was something entirely different—this sleek, flat surface with glowing stones embedded in it, almost like a modern electric stove, only powered by magic. It heated up almost instantly with no effort at all, like it was designed to be convenient, which definitely wasn’t how things worked in the medieval period.
And then there’s the lighting. The lamps here are strange too. They’re not the usual oil lamps or torches you’d expect from this time. Instead, they glow with an unnatural brightness, far more than any lamp I've ever seen before. The way they’re powered isn’t by oil or flame but by magic, which allows them to shine brighter and more consistently than anything from the medieval world. The strange part is how they’re turned on—it’s almost like flipping a switch, like modern tech. No wick to light, no match to strike—just a flick of the wrist and the room is illuminated.
This makes me wonder: this place doesn’t really feel like a medieval world at all. Sure, it looks like one, with its stone buildings and wooden furniture, but the technology—or rather, the magic—here is so much more advanced than what you'd expect from the Middle Ages. It's almost as if the setting was created with modern convenience in mind, something to make it easier for players to navigate and understand. It’s like a game, where developers add in familiar, easy-to-understand elements to help the player get oriented.
I must be overthinking it. Maybe I’m just adjusting to the weirdness of this world. But it’s hard to ignore the fact that, for all its medieval trappings, this place feels like a blend of the old and new, with magic filling in the gaps where technology might usually go.
“Well, someone has to. I have experience from our past life, and it would be a waste not to use it here. Besides,” I added with a grin, “I don’t want you eating flavorless meals every day.”
Her expression softened, and she reached out to ruffle my hair. “You’re too sweet sometimes, you know that?”
I shrugged, finishing the last of my plate. “Oh, by the way, aren’t you supposed to meet the priest later?”
Saya nodded, setting down her spoon. “Yeah. They want to check my magic affinity since I used magic for the first time yesterday. I think they’ll teach me some basics too.”
“Hmm, maybe I should tag along,” I said, leaning forward with a spark of excitement in my eyes. “I’d love to learn magic too!”
Saya raised an eyebrow, a smirk tugging at her lips. “You? Doing magic? This, I’ve got to see.”